DevLOG #1

Hi everyone!

My name is Stonie, I am an Indie game developer based in Australia. 

This is my first ever Devlog, I have had an awesome time developing this game so far and thought I would share a bit of the progress/story for whoever is interested :)

I have been working in game development for around 8 years now, I have been fortunate to work on some really exciting projects with some extremely talented people over the last few years and have also started dipping my toe into the film VFX world recently. This year I have decided to focus all of my free time into developing some cool, dark horror experiences with a goal of releasing 2-3 games this year, mainly because I have been working primarily on prototypes / proof of concepts for the last few years and just want to release some games for a change haha.

My first game this year is DISORDER, a dark, twisted word puzzle game where your mistakes hold irreversible consequences.

I originally planned to build DISORDER for the SCREAM TV game jam earlier this year, the jam theme was Screens, so my idea was a sinister game of Hangman, where your family are your lives and I was inspired by the SAW movies at the time, so I wanted to have some TV contraptions on their heads to display the words etc. I was also very inspired by games like Inscryption and Buckshot Roulette, two really amazing games!!

The deadline quickly approached and the Hangman game was complete, however I was becoming quite obsessed with how cool the concept was and many ideas were flowing and I couldn't help myself, I began implementing some other game modes inspired by Wordle and Family Feud and all these cool ideas to punish the player with some surprising deaths. The deadline for SCREAM TV passed and I just could not stop working on this game.

Once I missed the deadline I began showing a few of my family &  friends what I had created and watched them play the early builds, they were having fun which excited me even more, I also loved seeing their reactions when they would have to choose who dies, and see someone hanged which made me want to create some more shocking things in the game to surprise them. 

I remember one night while working on the game, thinking of new ways to execute the family members I thought to myself 'How cool and shocking would it be, if there was a sinister, evil dude walking around in the dark, who pops in and murders your family in front of you when you make a mistake' now enters The Ghoul. I modelled and rigged some pretty crazy looking arms and created a basic murder animation and put it in the next test build, and sure enough it surprised my friends and their reactions were priceless so I began working on new animations. Fast forward a week or 2 and now not only does The Ghoul kill in multiple ways, he also un-screws your families hands with an electric drill haha

It has now been just on 4 months working on DISORDER and it has been a blast. The game has 3 word puzzles and several executions, a simple Rating system and can be played from start to finish without a hitch (I hope haha) and I have learned so much working on this game and had a chance to take some risks learning different things, so it has already been a success for me. 

I have so many cool ideas for DISORDER and different ways I can create puzzles using the TV screens, puzzles that aren't just word games. I also have been working on some lore for the world, who is The Ghoul?  who is the protagonist? and why is he in this mess? these are all things I would love to explore further, I just feel it has been long enough in development now that I need to get something out and gauge whether this game has any interest or should I move onto the next game...

My only real fear now is whether people will play the game and whether they will enjoy it, I am so excited to see some reactions to the game.

So if the game is received well on Itch and I manage to generate enough development funds, my plan is to move on to building DISORDER into a full game with many more game modes and interactions for the players to discover as well as a real surprisingly deep story to invest into. when I think about how I can really surprise the player with a deep story I often think of games like Inscryption, that game is so clever in the way it appears at first as a deck building card game and you slowly realize you are in a whole other beast, and that game makes you feel like 'uh oh, what have I got myself into' haha.

I feel with the more time invested into this game i could really surprise some people, and I really hope I get the chance to do so.

If the game is not received well or even at all, I will keep soldiering on into the next dark and twisted horror game I get obsessed with haha

A BIG thank you to all of my family and friends who helped me test the game and for all of the awesome feedback during development. To whoever is reading this, Thank You for taking the time! and if you have played the game, I hope you had some fun and hope to see what you think!

Cheers!

StonieDude.